Cost of living: Welfare recipients and pensioners in line for spring bonus

Welfare recipients and pensioners are in line for a spring bonus, the Taoiseach has said.

Leo Varadkar said on Sunday that final decisions on a spring cost-of-living package have yet to be made, but that “there will be a social welfare and pensions element to the cost of living package for the spring”.

He said pensioners and those in receipt of social welfare payments were those who were struggling most, but that there would also be a universal benefit announced.

It is thought that the Government considers the currently in-place excise cuts on motor fuel, a potential double child benefit payment, and another electricity credit as potential universal measures.

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Meanwhile, Government sources believe reissuing some of the once-off welfare payments used at budget time would be effective as a targeted measure: these included bonus payments to the living alone allowance, the fuel allowance, the working family payment and a double week social welfare payment.

“I believe that you need an element of both,” the Taoiseach told RTÉ Radio. “Universal measures to help everyone, but those who are suffering the most are those who need the most help, and one thing we will make a judgment call on this week is some additional welfare payments, we haven’t decided the nature of those, exactly who will get them, who won’t and how much”

Mr Varadkar told the This Week programme that the cost of living was still rising, despite a welcome slow down in the rate of inflation.

[ The Irish Times view on the extension of cost-of-living supports: focus must be on those most in need ]

“That’s having a very severe impact on a lot of families, a lot of households, a lot of businesses as well are facing very high energy costs,” he said.

We understand that we need to help people some more over the spring period, we can afford to do so because the economy is strong, the public finances have been well managed and that’s why we are in a position to help people.”

Mr Varadkar also defended comments he made this week on the State’s migration policy – saying a reference to it being “hard” was in relation to people traffickers. He said, meanwhile, there would be efforts to prevent those who came to the country with a “false story” from entering and to deal rapidly with those who do enter on false pretences.

[ Irish people among fastest in world to react to cost-of-living crisis, study finds ]

The Taoiseach said migration was a good thing for Ireland, with tens of thousands of skilled workers needed in the country, including in sectors like healthcare – but that people “want to know that migration is being properly managed and there are controls”. He predicted there would be an additional 30,000-40,000 people coming to the country this year, less than the more than 75,000 who fled here in 2022.

He also said there could be up to 4,000 modular homes a year built in the State, not just for Ukraine but to add to the housing stock.

He conceded that a lot of the empty buildings being considered for refugee accommodation needed a lot of work. “A lot of these buildings are not in good condition, they do need to be refurbished, and that can take time.”

He refused to be drawn on the extension of the eviction ban currently in place for the end of March.

Mr Varadkar also said that criticism of the Attorney General’s report on the State’s legal strategies on nursing home charges and disability payments was “unfair, quite frankly”, and predicted that it was now “very possible” that a case would be taken in the courts and that the Government “will be sticking to its position”.